“Now imagine that same child holding the detonator for a hundred trillion of them.”

“Since I’m assuming I’m the child in this scenario and I have a detonator of some kind?”

“You are the detonator, Elle-Ryn, and the nuclear devices, all one hundred trillion of them, are inside you.”

I looked down at myself. “I have a bomb inside me,” I said, trying desperately to understand.

“Your inability to comprehend the situation is a rather large part of the problem.”

“How is something like that even possible?”

“And you prove me right again.”

“Quit being a smartass,” I said, taking a step closer. The glass trembled and closed in around him. “I get it. I’m an idiot. Now answer my question. How is something like that even possible?”

“It shouldn’t have been,” he acquiesced. “You should not have come into your powers before your corporeal form expired. You learned your name too soon, and as such, absorbed your powers too soon. As you can see, it was too much for you to regulate. Now you can’t remember your name. Any of them. And you can’t control your anger. You just tried to kill every person in here with a single thought.”

“No.” I stepped back until I hit the counter. “That wasn’t what I was doing.” I glanced around the café. At Dixie and Mr. P and Cookie. “I would never hurt them.”

“What is this, then?” he asked me, indicating the glass that hung like sparkling crystal around us. “And this was just the barest hint of a thought. One infinitesimal inkling that didn’t amount to a single grain of sand in your Sahara. Can you imagine what you’d do with more forethought?”

Reyes was only a few feet away now, slowly advancing, gaining ground.

“So you’ve come to kill her?” he asked Michael.

The air pushed out of my lungs as if I’d been punched.

“It cannot be helped.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “Get off this plane now, and I’ll let you live.”

But we weren’t on a plane. I glanced around just to make sure. Nope. No plane.

“I have been sent, Rey’aziel.”

“Then you have been sent to your death.”

“I would’ve thought after the nick I gave you last time —”

“Funny. Most of the blood on my shirt was yours.”

Michael rolled his eyes. Did angels really do that? “We could be at this all day.”

“What does He want, exactly?”

“The Val-Eeth to do her job. It is why He allowed her onto this plane in the first place. To stop the fallen one.”

Reyes tilted his head. “And here I thought He allowed it so she could be the portal. His portal.”

He lifted a shoulder. “That, too. But, as it were, there is a loophole in the original agreement with your father.”

“Ah. So killing two birds with one stone.”

He didn’t disagree. “But, alas, it would seem two gods is one god too many.” He gave him a chastising scowl. “Five is an invasion.”

Reyes took another step closer to me. “We know about the three gods of Uzan. You’re strong, Michael, but you’re not that strong. I’ve seen how they fight. And, you know, there is the matter of them being gods. You’re going to need our help. We can get all three of them off this plane for good.”

He stilled, his lids narrowing. “You can get them off? All three gods of Uzan?”

“Yes.”

He thought a moment, let his piercing vision rake over Reyes. “And you’re going to cast them out?” He sounded thoroughly unconvinced.

“You of all angelic asshats should know what I’m capable of.”

Michael lifted his sword, slowly, nonthreateningly, and placed the tip at my throat. He raised my chin with the cool blade. Studied me. Judged me. “Will that be before or after she collapses the universe with her temper?”

The dark smoke that cascaded over Reyes’s shoulders and pooled at his feet materialized into a black robe. He pulled a sword from underneath it and did the same thing, lifted his sword until his blade rested across the angel’s throat. “It will be sometime before she collapses the universe with her temper and after I collapse your lungs with my blade.”

Unmoved, the angel shot him a sideways glance. “He’ll come after you if you fail. Personally.”

“I doubt that.”

The angel lowered his sword, but Reyes held his steady. He clearly had trust issues. “I have your word?” the angel asked. “You will cast out all three gods from this plane?”

“You have my word.”

“No matter the cost?”

“No matter the cost.”

I suddenly got the feeling Reyes was being played. The barest hint of a smirk lifted one corner of Michael’s mouth. He was pleased with the bargain he’d just struck. A little too pleased, in fact, and I couldn’t help but wonder what Reyes had gotten himself into.

Before Reyes could react, Michael raised his right fist and slid his wrist along the razor-sharp edge of Reyes’s blade. Then, as though self-mutilation were a sport, Reyes did the same. He dropped the hilt into the palm of his left hand and sliced his right wrist open on his sword.

My hand shot up to cover my mouth. Blood gushed out of the deep opening and ran in rivulets over his forearm. They stepped toward each other and started to shake on it, but Michael paused, holding back for one last assurance.

“Your word. All three gods of Uzan will be banished from this plane and will never, ever return.”

Reyes knew something was going on. Had known from the first. I could feel the turmoil bubbling inside him. He lowered his head and watched Michael from underneath his dark lashes, his eyes glittering, his brows knitting in thought. After a moment of contemplation, he gave one quick nod.

Michael grabbed his forearm close to the elbow before Reyes could change his mind. Reyes followed suit, and their mutilated wrists touched in what amounted to a blood oath.

With an archangel.

What were the odds?

I felt the need to ask one burning question. “So there’s more than one god?”

They didn’t answer. As soon as the deed was done, Michael took on an expression way too smug for the direness at hand. “The bargain has been struck, Rey’aziel. The blood exchanged. You cannot, for any reason, back out.”

Reyes stepped closer to me. “I don’t plan to.”

“I am well aware of this… uncommon sense of honor you’ve gained while here in His realm.” He sheathed his sword. “Just don’t forget where you came from.”

Reyes didn’t take the bait. He watched and waited for the angelic asshat to leave.

Michael turned to go, then stopped and said, “I just thought you should know, I couldn’t have killed her either way.”

I felt Reyes still.

“She dematerialized her human form. She fused it together with her celestial energies. Now, even her physical body is immortal. Only another god can end her life. Father was on his way to do just that, but now that we have an agreement…”

Oddly enough, Reyes seemed more confused than upset. “You did it on purpose. Why? We would have agreed. It is to our advantage to cast out the gods. You didn’t have to threaten her.” He took a bold step, closing the distance between them. “Why?”